Conventional oven appliances generally include a cabinet that defines a chamber where food items are received for the application of heat or other energy to cook the food. Access to the chamber is controlled through one or more doors located on the front of the appliance. The user of the appliance can open or close the door(s) to provide a seal and insulation that helps retain heat energy during cooking.
In certain conventional oven designs, the oven door is rotatably mounted to the oven's cabinet. In such designs, the door has an axis about which the door is rotatable in order to open and close. To open the door, the user pulls a handle on the door, and the door rotates away from the cabinet about the axis of rotation. However, when the user rotates the door away from the cabinet, the door projects into a kitchen's work space. Thus, an area in front of the cabinet must remain free of obstructions in order for the door to open freely. The area required for the door to open freely can be large and consume a significant portion of the kitchen's work space. Because work space is a premium in many kitchens, an oven door that conserves such valuable work space would be appreciated in the art.
In addition, for ovens having double doors (e.g., “French” doors), typically both doors must be opened separately by the user in order to remove large food items from the cooking chamber or to clean the chamber. If the user is already holding an object—such as food or cooking utensil—the opening of each door separately can be inconvenient and cumbersome.
Accordingly, an oven having double French doors that can be opened without projecting or swinging out into the space in front of the oven would be useful. Such an oven where both doors can be opened by manipulation of only one door would be particularly useful. An oven with such doors that can also be equipped with an automatic actuator would also be beneficial.